Shadowrun Vancouver

Shades of Black, Jet Black

Hoi little bro. Well thought I should keep writing, I want someone to know the details if this all goes to drek.

Day 4: We sent the info on Nabo’s commlink to R10t Grrl last night, she came through with the info this morning. Seems the disk is old recordings done by Jet Black. Yup, THAT Jet Black. I don’t know how, but the message says they’re unreleased tracks. The message came from some hacker named Zipper. R10t Grrl knows them by reputation, they hang out at the Cathode Glow, that shitty decker bar. Also, she found some interesting pictures on Nabo’s link, seems he’s been having some fun with that elven pop princess, what’s-her-name, you’ll know who I mean. I guess Nabo like his women tall, slim, and pointy eared. We’ve decided to keep the photos in case drek hits the fan. Always good to have a bargaining chip.

We decided to go check out the Cathode Glow. When we showed up, a drone greeted us, wanted to know what we were there for, and it would be an understatement to say we stood out from their regular clientele. Blix tried sweet talking it, his gift of gab doesn’t seem to translate across technological boundaries. I told the drone we needed a secure node, something I never would have known about if it wasn’t for you, so something did rub off.

Inside we found the biggest junk heap of old tech I’ve ever seen. Your old pad didn’t even come close to the ancient consoles and decks they had in this place. You probably would have creamed your shorts, all kinds of dead tech, but also some stuff that looked like it should be dead, but someone had lovingly kept alive. Well lets just say all eyes, real and cyber, were on us. My comm went ape shit as people sent me update notices and security vulnerabilities, I had to turn it off rather than let one of them crack it open and poke around some more. R10t Grrl was able to tell us that Zipper was somewhere inside, they was running in Public mode. We sent a message, saying we had something of interest. This half-asian dwarf girl comes over, all attitude at first. Tries talking a big game, which seemed to get Morkis and Allice on edge. I can see the other hackers getting antsy, and the drones in the bar were moving towards us. I’ve got one had in my bag, an area jammer all keyed up to go, when Blix takes over. The girl seems to just give up, she lets slip that she doesn’t know what she’s selling, she set up an anonymous account for a friend, and doesn’t know what it’s for. She seems happy to make a few bucks giving us the name, some friend eh? We learn that she’s been working for some guy named Loomis, he owns a bar downtown, the Coda.

We head to the bar, seems to be beside a Junkyard, and out front are a bunch of BTL addicts. Would it surprise me if you knew the place? Probably not. Well those beetle kids got me rattled, I was willing to bet there was a dealer inside, and I didn’t want to have to kiss ass and play nice. I told the team to go in without me, I’d cover the back door, be overwatch for them. I guess inside they found some gangbangers, came on hard at first, but Blix talked them down. I picked the back door, so I could get fast entry if need be. Well the door was already unlocked, I should have twigged then that something was up. In that part of town NOTHING is unlocked.

Blix learned that Loomis wasn’t there, and he got the feeling from the gangbanger that we’d just missed him. I heard a yell from over in the junkyard, almost a scream. I decided to check it out, and Morkis got my message and came with me. We saw a group of guys headed to the front of the yard. I don’t know what it was, but I knew they were after someone, they scream was too much to be a coincidence. My blood was up and seeing those beetle kids made me want to hurt someone. I was able to get through a hole in the fence, and just as I did I saw a guy come up the alley, checking each row like he was looking for someone. I was able to duck behind some crushed cars before he saw me, and I decided to see if I could find the person who screamed before these guys did. I spotted some blood and followed it to another aisle, crouched there was this guy, big gash in his leg, looking about ready to pass out. At this point I got a message from Blix, he was at the front gate with Morkis and they’d been stopped by some guy, telling them to leave. I shot a message over to Allice telling him to meet me over by the fence, we’d set up a flanking position in case this turned ugly. Well as soon as Allice gets there and pulls out his chainsaw (yeah I know, the kid uses it for EVERYTHING), a guy pops up, his hands crackling with energy, telling Allice to back away from the fence. Well my mind shot back to that night across the Tsimshian border, never again was I going to let some mage geek my friends. I lit that fragger up like a Christmas tree, that Defiance Taser is a thing of beauty. Unfortunately the drekhead kept his feet, and I decided to finish it before he got a chance to tell his friends. Sun Chief buried itself up to the hilt in his neck and I could feel the Ancestors’ power coursing through me. I guess his buddies heard the gurgling over their comms, because next thing I knew there was an AK rattling somewhere by the entrance. I learned later that Blix and Morkis got opened up on by one of the slots they were dealing with. I guess Blix took over the mind of one guy and had him shooting at the other (fragging Mages, eh?) When that didn’t work out and Morkis was dodging lead like it was confetti, he just stunbolted the fraggers, like it was no big deal. Allice took out one guy with a well placed shock glove to the face, but then took incoming fire from another slot who popped up out of nowhere. I drew my HK and charged the fragger, he didn’t expect me to close the distance anywhere near that fast and I put half a clip into him from close range.

One of the guys Blix took out was still alive, a little bit of intimidation got us who sent them: Shangri-La. Some music company if I remember correctly. I’m wondering if they’re working for the same group we are, maybe they didn’t like how slow we were going? Or maybe this was a double cross? Well talking to Loomis cleared some of that up. I guess he wasn’t being chased like I originally though, he’d booked it out the back door when he saw us coming, guess a huge honking troll with a machine gun does give us away a little. Well he’d fallen and cut himself bad on some rusted out car, that was the scream I heard. Guess the Shangri-La guys heard it too. Makes me feel kind of bad for the wagemage and his buddy, but I’m not letting another mage get the drop on me or my team, and once the bullets start flying, it’s all autopilot for me, the Rangers trained us to neutralize the threat, the faster the better. Loomis didn’t want to talk at first, but he got a good look at me pumping that poor slot full of lead, a good portion of the guy’s head was still on my clothes too. I got his leg fixed up, but made it clear that if he didn’t cooperate, we had no problem leaving one more body if need be. He spilled, told us the disk was from his father, it had been willed to him and it was the only thing he had left. Blix felt this was somewhat truthful, though something wasn’t right. We told him to hand it over, at this point it didn’t matter if the disk was stolen or some old family heirloom, Mr. Johnson wasn’t going to pay if we didn’t get it. We’d sort out later what the truth was. Well Loomis handed over the disk, and on the cover it said: “Carrion Sessions, ’48
J.B. For Enlightenment, Seek out absent Friends” Well well well, maybe JB is Jet Black after all. I did a clean up on the bodies, grabbing anything useful. Wish I had a clean up kit, something to make sure we didn’t leave behind any evidence, but none of us took a scratch, so no blood, and I’m using caseless ammo, so not much for the forensics boys to trace to us. We better take care of Loomis, make sure he goes somewhere safe till we figure out this situation, but also somewhere we can find him if need be…

TrogFest '72

Well little brother, I’m writing this for you in case something goes wrong, then again I don’t know if you’ll ever come back to Vancouver to receive this. But I know if you do, first place you’ll look is for your stash. Well, your stash is gone, but I’ve left you these journals, if I’m dead at least someone will know what happened…

Day 0: First Meeting of the group, mish mash crew, not sure how this will work out. If you can believe it, we met at Community College…Blix Nalldiir approached me in the cafeteria, seems he’s has a bit more history than your average college professor, said he could see I had a “special skill set”. Don’t know what I did to give it away, all my powers were off and I was doing my best to look down and out, but then again maybe he just assensed me. Mages give me the creeps, doesn’t matter how good your disguise is, they look right through it. He took me to Group Study Room F, seems he’d found some others with special skills. He introduced me to Allice, this huge fragging troll, seen him around campus but always thought he was a little goody-two-shoes to be a threat, now I learn he’s cybered and got a fragging MMG (get this, he carries it around in a “concealable holster”, guy looks like he’s got a full set of golf clubs tucked up under his sweat suit!) Then Blix introduces “Saint Morkis”, the homeless Ork who hands out religious pamphlets down on Pender, you know the one I mean, crazy eyes and all that drek? Well I guess old Mark (as he told us to call him) also is wired, and from watching him move, he’s got some serious ware. So the elf, Blix, says he’s looking to make some cash, needs a team to run with, and we look like the best on campus. I don’t know why he thinks recruiting runners at Community College is a good idea, but the man sure could talk. Next thing I knew I was telling these guys about Crash-of-Thunder, and how he’s an ex-Ranger buddy of mine who does some gun running and fixing. Well that seems to be music to old Blix’s ears, he gets me to call him and by the next day we had a meet with a Mr. Johnson.

Day 1: So the meet with Mr. Johnson is at Infinity. Little bro, you know my feelings on clubs like that, more trouble than they’re worth. But Tahatan said to dress nice and play the part of a seasoned crew, so Allice the Troll and I went to get some clubbing suits. There wasn’t any point in getting one for Morkis, even the Great Mother couldn’t help that guy, so we left him out front as overwatch. Blix seems to have a thing for the drugs, you’d love him, but it makes me think of you on BTLs. I don’t trust him. Yet he can talk, got us through the line no problem, then sweet talked a bartender for info.

We went up to one of those private rooms, all white noise generators, surveillance proof. Least troll-looking troll I’ve ever seen sitting there, all class and polish. He tells us that an item has been stolen from his client. Old-style optical disk. The data disk must be returned, and we’ll need to use our contacts to find the thieves. The disk’s data can’t get into anyone’s hands, so we’ve got to track down any copies and make sure they’re destroyed. Also he believes that the person who is offering it for sale is probably different from actual thief. Track down both, the seller and the original thief. He can cover expenses to buy the disk. Originally offers 10000¥, Blix gets him up to 5000¥ up front/8000¥ on completion. Pretty good payday, can’t be a milk run if he’s putting out that kind of yen, something hinky there.

Well before I call it a night, I see Blix, he’s working the club, trying to get info. This guy seems to hit on anything that moves, one minute he’s talking up the cute bartender from before, next he’s macking on the DJ, the MALE DJ, seriously bro, this guy is cracked. I don’t know who he ended up with, I got out of there before he did. Had to get my rituals in, and go water the garden.

Day 2: I guess the Johnson knows we’re light on ‘trix support, him knowing that isn’t a good sign. Anyway, he sends a hacker named R10t Grrl to help us out. Haven’t met her in the meat, but she rings up my comm, my RUNNING comm no less, and says she’s here to help. Don’t know how she got the number, I run in hidden mode on that comm exclusively. Broadcast on my burner comm that Jacob Crow fake SIN you made for me years ago, still my go-to, no one’s ever broken it. Well this girl wasn’t fooled, so as useful as she appears, I’m going to beef up my wireless security next chance I get, don’t want her playing both sides. She did get us a name though, seems a Nabo, some Ork Rocker I’m sure I’ve heard of but can’t place, he’s been sent a message saying that this disk is for sale. She thinks that if we can get her his commlink, she’ll be able to track who the message came from. One problem, Nabo leaves Van in a couple of days, some big tour he’s doing. He’s doing a big farewell gig at some warehouse down by the docks, but it’s going to have security crawling all over it while they set up. And Trogs, a drek load of Trogs…Well at least we’ve got two of our own.

We do a little recons of the site. I decide to try and get inside, throw on my locksmith gear and the guards buy it. They give me an RFID wristband, seems the staff and security will be wearing them, probably the same for the ticket holders. I decide I’ll copy the bracelets when I leave, but going to try and do some more recon first. There seems to be several drones hovering around, must be a rigger somewhere nearby, but before I get a chance to get up to the change room Nabo will be using, I frag up replacing a simple mech-lock. Seriously little bro, I got my screw driver stuck, the security guys kicked me out, thinking I was some bumbling loser. I got lucky, I need to go take some refresher course at the college, that was too close for comfort.

Well Blix decides to cons his way in and learns that Nabo’s assistant, Jagger, is a heavy Novacoke user, and promises to get him some very good stuff in exchange for two tickets to the sold out concert. I guess Blix has a coat full of drugs, and he tried leaving BTLs for Nabo, but the guy Jagger wants Novacoke, more than Blix had on him. Well in the end that worked out well, I suggested seeing your old “friend” Maple Bacon. Not only did he hook Blix up with the Novacoke, he was able to get us some Laes to put in one of the bags. My guess is Jagger will happily snort some as soon as Blix gives it to him, and he’ll be out in no time, without any memory of Blix even being there.

While Blix and Morkis were off seeing Maple, Allice and I decided to pay the rigger a visit. R10t Grrl was able to pinpoint his location to one of the shipping containers on the dock. We rode up on his Scoot, which he’s got pimped with a smoke projector. He sprayed a cloud of smoke and pulled out a chainsaw, I hopped up on the roof and found a vent. In went a flash-bang, and as it went off, Allice cut through the door. Inside was one very scared and confused dwarf…in his underwear. Guess the poor sap decided to take a nap, and next thing he knows his ears are ringing and he’s got a troll in his face. Well Allice knocked him out, threw him over the back of his Scoot and took him to some fleabag motel for safe keeping. Guess when the guy at the front desk saw us roll up, he thought we were there to bone, Allice thought this was hilarious, that kid must not get out much. But whatever, it got us the room and some place to stash the dwarf.

We headed back to the warehouse and decided to set up for the next day. Morkis came to meet us and provided some distraction while we got inside. Poor guy’s a Pacifist, I drek you not, wouldn’t even defend himself when the guard unloaded on him with an SMG! Well thankfully the guard was you typical gangbanger, spray and pray for the win. Didn’t hit the Saint, maybe he is divine after all. Once we were inside, Allice and I set up on the roof, better to be inside now than risk not getting in at all tomorrow. It’ll be a long night though, and Allice isn’t what I call invigorating company. Kid talks about his dad a lot, that seems to be one fragged up relationship. I do my rituals up on the roof, hope my tomatoes will be okay without their nightly watering.

Day 3: Blix arrives with Morkis to see Jagger, security gives them RFID bracelets and lets them in. The place is packed with orks and trolls, humans who want to be orks. They’re rowdy too, your typical Orxploitation crowd, this thing is going to be a huge moshpit in no time. Nabo comes on just at the team’s arriving, so everyone’s focused on him. Blix and Morkis talk their way up to the change rooms, where Jagger’s waiting for them. I guess there were two slitchs in there making out with on of Nabo’s entourage, but from the sounds of things Blix had it under control. He got Jagger to do the Laes-laced Novacoke, and the dude was out cold FAST! Crashed down through the glass coffee table, scared the crap out of the groupies. Blix yelled at them to go get medical attention, and when they left he grabbed the commlink, I guess it had fallen onto the floor. Well leaving ends up not being as easy as we’d hoped, the moshpit is in full swing, and the security are getting over run. Fights have broken out everywhere, so there isn’t an obvious route to the exit. Up on the roof, Allice and I can see the problem through the skylights. Allice decides to drop in some dry lubricant to make it hard for the crowd below to keep their feet. Well they love the stuff, seems that slipping and falling all over each other is just as good as fighting. I throw in a smoke grenade for good measure. Morkis picks up Blix and makes a bee line for the exit. It looks like some of the young punks are going to try and intercept them, and I’ve got my HK-227 lined up with a clip of Stick-and-Shock ready to rock. Well Morkis showed some moves, getting through the crowd without taking a hit, and they were out in the clear. Allice climbed off the roof and we met up to decide our next move.

A blog for your campaign

While the wiki is great for organizing your campaign world, it’s not the best way to chronicle your adventures. For that purpose, you need a blog!

The Adventure Log will allow you to chronologically order the happenings of your campaign. It serves as the record of what has passed. After each gaming session, come to the Adventure Log and write up what happened. In time, it will grow into a great story!

Best of all, each Adventure Log post is also a wiki page! You can link back and forth with your wiki, characters, and so forth as you wish.

One final tip: Before you jump in and try to write up the entire history for your campaign, take a deep breath. Rather than spending days writing and getting exhausted, I would suggest writing a quick “Story So Far” with only a summary. Then, get back to gaming! Grow your Adventure Log over time, rather than all at once.